Kurt Vile & The Violators are touring North America with a stacked setlist.
Kurt Vile has been doing things his own slightly sideways way for a while now.
From his early days with The War on Drugs to the scruffy indie-rock breakthrough of Wakin on a Pretty Daze and ‘Pretty Pimpin’, the Philadelphia guitarist has built a career around songs that sound relaxed right up until you realise there is quite a lot going on underneath them.
That remains pretty much the deal with his current North American tour.
Kurt Vile & The Violators are out on the road supporting Philadelphia’s been good to me, with the band working through a fairly consistent setlist across their Summer 2026 run.
Based on fully logged stops at The Van Buren in Phoenix on July 10 and San Diego on July 9, this is the set Kurt Vile has largely been bringing to the stage.
Kurt Vile & The Violators 2026 setlist
Red Room Dub
Zoom 97
Hey Like a Child
Rock o’ Stone
99 BPM
Blackberry Song
Girl Called Alex
Chance to Bleed
Like Exploding Stones
Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)
Pretty Pimpin
Wakin on a Pretty Day
‘Blackberry Song’ has generally been performed solo acoustic, giving everyone a slight breather before Vile and The Violators head back into full-band mode.
The closing stretch also leans heavily on the songs people probably came hoping to hear, with ‘Pretty Pimpin’ and ‘Wakin on a Pretty Day’ arriving near the end of the main set.
As for the encore, that is where things get a little less predictable, but based on the rest of the tour, this is a pretty solid idea of what Kurt Vile is currently playing – long guitars, old favourites and just enough movement in the encore to keep things interesting.
